


Second time’s the charm

by Fletcher



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: After 5x13, Fix-It, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, M/M, Modern Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-07
Updated: 2013-09-07
Packaged: 2017-12-25 20:40:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/957380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fletcher/pseuds/Fletcher
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur wakes up in a world he doesn’t know, surrounded by people he doesn’t know. All he does know is that he needs to find Merlin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Second time’s the charm

Arthur woke up six months ago.

At first, he thought he woke up from the most satisfying sleep in his life since he never felt more awake. But it did not take long for him to realize that he was not in Camelot.

No, the place he woke up in was filled with people, but they were not knights. Those people were wearing the most extraordinary clothes. Arthur quickly came to the conclusion that he needed to do research, he needed books.

He had never been more grateful that he spent all those dreadful hours with Gaius, learning to read. It was like the people in this strange place knew where he needed to go since they had built something that showed where to find the library.

The library was slightly bigger than the one they had in the palace but Arthur only calmed down once he found his way inside. He followed two people, they seemed to know what to do. Arthur started reading the instructions the people of the library had helpfully put up, even if people were starting to give him strange looks. Arthur realized he wasn’t exactly wearing the same extraordinary clothes they were wearing, he would change that later. After he found where he was, where Merlin brought him.

Because that was the only thing he knew for certain, whatever happened to him, Merlin was involved. He finally found a book titled: “The history of London.” The drawings inside were very similar to what he had seen outside so Arthur concluded that he woke up in London.

London was a very large town, millions of people lived here (millions!), it was the capital of the United Kingdom. Well at least someone had managed to unite all the kingdoms. The United Kingdom was a part of Europe, and there were a lot of countries in Europe. Arthur was starting to get a headache when he saw the map that indicated how large the world had grown.

So he started searching for other books, an indication of what age he was living in now and his heart stopped beating for a second when he found out it was 2013. Arthur’s time period was named the Middle Ages.

2013\. Which meant that Gwen, Gaius, Leon, all his knights, they had all perished. Everyone he had everyone known was gone, Camelot had long disappeared. Except for one person: Merlin. He had to be here, he just had to be. Arthur knew in his heart that he was still alive. He couldn’t have just died, he was a powerful sorcerer.

At least that was what he had told Arthur before he died. But Merlin must have performed some sort of magical trick because Arthur’s heart was still beating. How could Merlin leave him alone in this strange world?

*

The next weeks were agonizing. After he managed to find a ‘library card’, Arthur spent many hours reading books in the library to find out as much as he could about living in London in these very modern times. But even then it wasn’t easy, he had to sleep on the streets. But that wasn’t such a hardship, the streets of London were much easier to bare than Gwaine’s snoring.

He was not proud of this but he also stole some clothes and some other things, after he read that people weren’t hanged for stealing of course. He was no longer a king so he didn’t need to set an example. The current queen was Elizabeth II, she didn’t look like him. It occurred to Arthur that he hadn’t left a progeny so this woman was probably not a part of his line. He had officially lost all right to the throne.

After all that time he had spent fighting for that damn throne with his sister and he only sat on it for a few years. But it didn’t matter, all that mattered was finding Merlin. Arthur knew there had to be a good reason why he wasn’t there, there had to be one. Merlin had been loyal to him until the end, he wouldn’t have just left him alone.

But first he mourned the dead, he mourned his wife. Arthur found out in one of the history books that she died only a few years after he did or at least that was what the book said. The Pendragon reign had been truly short, Camelot had been conquered by some other king. And that was that.

After a while, Arthur realized he couldn’t live in the past, those deaths felt recent to him but they had occurred a long time ago.

People used money to buy things, that was another one of his discoveries. He had read a book on how to get rich quickly, only Arthur didn’t see himself doing anything the book said. He was trained to lead an army, but there were no armies in London. But he needed a job, the streets of London weren’t that nice and he needed money to find Merlin.

His persistence paid off and he finally found something. Arthur Pendragon became a dishwasher. It was perfect, it was a skill he could pick up quickly and the people of the restaurant weren’t interested in his _credentials_ or his address which he didn’t have either. After a couple of days, he had earned enough money to rent a room in a motel which was where he discovered the quickest way to adjust to this society: a television. Although, he was also rather fond of the shower, he had never been this clean in his entire life.

He had read about televisions of course, but the one in front of him was truly marvellous. He spent his evenings watching EastEnders, Coronation Street, a lot of police shows, a show where people were locked up in a house. He learned how people worked, how they talked and told himself he needed to sound less formal. Unfortunately, no one in the restaurant talked to him so he didn’t have the opportunity to practice.

He wondered what Merlin sounded like after all these years, he had trouble remembering his voice, although he never forget the face he used to throw his boots after.

After six months in London, Arthur considered himself pretty well-adjusted. He now lived in a very crappy flat, he already earned himself a promotion to head dishwasher and he finally learned to work with the second hand computer he bought. The internet was very interesting, it was without a doubt the best invention yet. He wouldn’t even need that old library card he found anymore, he had Google now.

Although googling his own name wasn’t so pleasant, googling Merlin’s was quite helpful. Google could only find him one picture of Merlin Emrys, but that cheeky grin couldn’t belong to anyone else. Arthur nearly jumped on his bed out of pure joy but stopped himself since the cheap bed would most likely not survive it.

He did suffer from another problem: he missed people. He kept to himself at work since he didn’t want to be known as that crazy medieval guy but it would be nice to have some friends until he managed to find his best friend. The people in his building weren’t very welcoming and after Arthur started watching Breaking Bad, he strongly suspected some of them were drug dealers.

There was one place in London which contained a lot of people: it was called a park. One of the women in EastEnders decided she needed to start jogging in the park and Arthur followed her example. It felt good to run, for some reason it made Arthur smile and his smile seemed to be contagious because other people started smiling at him, his fellow joggers gave him encouraging nods. He was officially part of a group.

But Arthur’s favourite activity was sitting on a bench and listening to other people talk. There seemed to be a lot of affairs and illegitimate children nowadays. Maybe Uther and Morgana could have lived in peace here.

There were two women sitting behind him. The first one exclaimed, “I can’t believe he said that.” Arthur assumed she was talking about her boyfriend but the other woman answered, “I know right. Dr. Fabrizio can be such a twat. This is Merlin we’re talking about, he is totally going to wake up.”

Arthur’s heart started beating frantically at the mention of Merlin’s name. How many Merlin’s could there possibly be?

“Well, Sophie, it has been six months, most doctors would start having doubts. Not that Dr. Fabrizio isn’t a twat for not believing in Merlin.”

“Merlin is special,” Sophie insisted. Arthur liked Sophie. “He is just waiting for Arthur. That was all he ever talked about.”

“But we don’t know where his husband is, according to Merlin his stay in Africa would last at least a year and there is no way to communicate with him out there. They’ve been separated for so long.”

Arthur made a quick, mental analysis of his relationship with Merlin and realized that in 2013 a lot of people would consider it a romance instead of the strong friendship it really was. Hmm, really strong.

“But Alex, I just know Merlin is going to wake up when Arthur comes back. They share a bond that can’t be broken.” Sophie sounded very convinced about that and Arthur shared her opinion.

“If only his magic could wake him.”

“His magic tricks were pretty impressive, but he’s not actually a wizard,” Sophie said. “But I wish I could use magic to find Arthur Pendragon, the guy could be anywhere.”

Arthur smiled, he was exactly where he needed to be.

*

He was actually kind of mad at himself that he never checked the hospitals. But since he thought that Merlin was immortal, he didn’t think he could get sick. It was probably the perfect explanation why Merlin never found him. Especially since he apparently went into some sort of coma when Arthur woke up.

Arthur still didn’t understand how he managed to wake up in the first of place. Hopefully that was something Merlin would be able to explain, he was a wizard after all. He often wondered how things would have been if Merlin had told him earlier about his magic, although shamefully he had to admit to himself that Merlin probably would have been executed.

At the moment, he needed to focus on following the two young women who could bring him to Merlin. They went inside a hospital, it seemed they were nurses. Watching Doctors had learned him a few things.

He went up to the desk where fortunately Sophie was standing and asked after Merlin Emrys.

Her eyes widened. “You’re here to see, Merlin? Are you Arthur? Sorry, that wasn’t very professional of me, what I meant to say was: what is your relationship with the patient?”

“I’m his husband,” Arthur answered. “Arthur Pendragon.” He showed her his identity card, which he bought from someone in his building when he got his promotion. His boss suddenly did need to see his papers.

“It is you,” she said.

Her eyes turned sad and her initial excitement seemed to have passed. “I’m sorry, Mr. Pendragon, but I have some dreadful news about your husband. You see, it actually started nine months ago when Merlin was brought in after he had been in an accident. The doctor will be able to tell you more about his condition.”

“I would like you to tell me,” Arthur said.

“Alright. He was actually waiting for you, you were supposed to call him, Merlin said he had been waiting for forever. Then he saw that there was a child in danger, she was nearly run over by a car and he jumped right in front of her.” She smiled affectionately. “Your husband is quite the hero. But of course he landed himself in hospital, his injuries were surprisingly minor but he stayed here for three months to recover from a nasty fracture. Everything seemed fine, he was about to be released. Until six months ago, he quite suddenly fell into a coma. Dr. Fabrizio still doesn’t understand why.”

She stopped in front of room 6 and said, “I have to warn you, he looks frightenly peaceful but we strongly suggest that you talk to him. A lot of doctors believe these patients can hear you, give them a reason to wake up.”

They walked inside the room and Arthur understood her warning. Merlin did look a little too peaceful, if this had been a battlefield he probably would have been declared dead. Arthur carefully took Merlin’s hand in his and sat down next to him.

“I’ll give you some privacy,” Sophie announced.

After she closed the door, Arthur gently touched Merlin’s face. “I can’t believe you’re here, after all this time. For me it’s only been a few months, but for you it’s been too long to contemplate. You lazy bastard, leaving me alone while you’re resting in your magical coma.”

Arthur gave into his urge and climbed into Merlin’s bed. “We should have hugged more,” he said and did just that. “I am your husband after all.”

Merlin’s eyes remained closed.

“There is this Disney movie called Sleeping Beauty, I watched all the Disney movies. I kind of missed being a prince and for the record, I would have been an amazing Prince Charming. But in Sleeping Beauty, the princess wakes up when you give her a kiss. Now, I realize that this would be a bit creepy so that’s why I’m ordering you to wake up. You’re still my manservant, you never officially resigned and I don’t think you’re part of an union.”

And then Arthur knew that Disney movies didn’t lie and miracles did happen because Merlin was starting to open his eyes. He looked confused when he saw Arthur and tried to talk but he seemed to have trouble speaking. Arthur quickly jumped off the bed to give him some water.

“Here you go, I should call the doctor, he needs to do all kinds of tests. I watched a documentary once.”

“Wait,” Merlin whispered, Arthur could barely understand him. “Not just yet, I need to know first if I’m not dreaming. Is it really you, Arthur?”

Arthur grinned. “Oh, Merlin, you’re such a clotpole.”

Merlin started coughing violently but Arthur was sure he was smiling first.

*

Arthur met Dr. Fabrizio an hour later when he finished doing tests on Merlin. He told Arthur that he was almost sure Merlin would make a miraculous recovery. Arthur let out a sigh of relief and went to the desk to give Sophie the good news. She was after all the reason he was here in the first place.

Then he went to see Merlin, he still looked a bit weak but his voice sounded a lot better already.

“Arthur, I think this proves I’m the best manservant this world has ever known. I even woke up out of my coma to polish your shoes, although they don’t look as fancy anymore.”

“I’m only a dishwasher, Merlin, it’s not like I can afford expensive shoes.”

“You’re a dishwasher,” Merlin repeated. “That’s amazing, how did you find me? How did you adjust this well? You do know it’s 2013 now?” He seemed more agitated by the second.

Arthur rushed to reassure him. “I’m fine, perhaps fine is not the word. I’m doing ok. I read a lot of books, I watched a lot of television and I think I got the hang of it.”

“You’ve got the hang of it,” Merlin said proudly. “That’s amazing, I’m so sorry that I wasn’t there to help you. I should have been there, I really should have been there.” The pride on his face had been replaced by sadness.

Arthur took his hand again. “Even you couldn’t have predicted this. Magic is pretty weird.”

“You don’t have to tell me. I’m sorry but I never expected you to be like this. It’s like you’re really a 21st century version of my Arthur.”

“I have to admit that it wasn’t particularly easy to adjust but I had a pretty good motivation.”

“Survival,” Merlin filled in.

“No, you. Finding you is the only thing that kept me sane, I just knew you had to be alive. That you wouldn’t leave me.”

“I never will,” Merlin promised.

*

It took a couple of days before Merlin could leave the hospital, the doctors didn’t understand how he progressed so quickly. But it was clear the staff loved Merlin, even Dr. Fabrizio.

Then Merlin took Arthur back to his apartment. His very large apartment.

Arthur raised his eyebrows. “How can you possibly afford this?”

Merlin shrugged. “I’ve been around for a while, I’ve got savings. Also, I’ve only lived here for a year since I try to move around. Honestly, I was starting to panic since the internet makes it pretty impossible to change identities. Now that I’ve found you, I can join Facebook!”

“Yes, that is great news.” Arthur was relieved to see that Merlin was still quite silly. “But we do need to discuss some things like: how am I still alive?”

“I’ll make us some tea,” Merlin said.

Arthur settled into Merlin’s couch which was infinitely better than his own and waited for Merlin to start talking. It couldn’t take that long, he knew that from experience.

Merlin handed him his cup and started his story. “First of all, you are the Once and Future King which means that after your death, you were supposed to come back when the world needed you. Apparently it needs you.”

“That makes sense,” Arthur concluded, it was no use to waste energy on finding logic where there was none. “You can tell me more about that part later. So what happened after I _died,_ to the people I left behind.”

“A year after you died, Camelot was attacked by a power hungry king,” Merlin told him, his expression grew solemn. “They all died: Gwen, Leon, Gaius, everyone.”

They stared at each other until Merlin finally started speaking again. “I stayed with you until you woke up. Of course a lot of other things happened in between, but I’ll tell you all about that later. But I have a question for you too: have you forgiven me for lying about my magic?”

“I forgave you before I died. After thinking about it for months, I’m convinced you did the right thing. I don’t think I would have accepted it, especially not after my father died.”

Merlin took another sip of his comforting tea. “Do you know what a therapist is, because I’m afraid we might need one.”

*

The next few months, Arthur and Merlin settled into their new life together. They talked a lot about the past, about the things Merlin encountered while guarding Arthur and every day Arthur started to understand more and more why Merlin had called him husband. Which was ironically the only question he hadn’t asked him yet.

Until one night, Arthur found the courage he needed and just asked him.

Merlin blushed, it was quite endearing. “It just seemed like a believable story. When they brought me in, I might have shouted your name a few times. Then Sophie asked me who Arthur was and I just started talking, you know me. You’re not mad, are you? It wasn’t exactly an option where we come from, two men marrying.”

“I have no problem with two men marrying, in fact Gwaine once told me a story… it doesn’t matter. This is my century now and I have no issues with gay people,” Arthur declared very seriously.

Merlin rolled his eyes.“Let me guess, you watched Queer as Folk.”

“I must have missed that one,” he said cheekily.

“Arthur, there is something else I need to tell you. I might be gay.”

“You might be, are you not sure?”

“No, actually, I’m pretty sure, I just didn’t know how to tell you. It’s not a problem, right, since we live together and all,” he said nervously.

“Actually, it’s a solution to this problem I’ve been having.”

“What problem?” Merlin asked, clearly confused.

“I think it’s best if I show you,” Arthur said and then he kissed him.

A couple of kisses later, Merlin replied, “I’m glad we both managed to solve our problems.”

“Yes, and in such a beneficiary way.”

Merlin laughed. “You might not be a prince anymore, but you’re still so posh.”

Merlin deserved to be snogged silly for that remark.

*

A year later, Arthur was looking up recipes for the restaurant (doing research was important for a sous chef), when suddenly a scream came from the bathroom. Arthur put down his laptop and shouted, “Are you alright, Merlin?”

His boyfriend bounced into the room like an overexcited puppy and jumped into Arthur’s lap. He didn’t really mind.

“Arthur, I’ve got fantastic news. The best news ever!” he said excitedly.

“Well, don’t keep me in suspense, Dr. Emrys,” he teased.

“I’m not a doctor yet. But anyway, I just found a wrinkle.”

“Yes, and yesterday I found my first grey hair, but I don’t quite remember jumping in the air out of joy.”

“But don’t you realize what this means? It’s finally happening, I’m aging, I’m going to grow old with you.”

“That is great news,” Arthur grinned. “I actually have some news myself, well it’s not really news, I’ve been meaning to ask you something.”

“You’re not seriously lecturing me about buying milk again, I was totally going to do it tomorrow.”

“No, you idiot, I was planning on proposing.”

“Are you serious?”

“I’m always serious,” he said.

Merlin replied by kissing him. “Of course I will marry you! I love you, prat.”

“I love you too, but I wasn’t joking about that milk.”

Merlin shut him up by kissing him again.

*

Many years later, they still couldn’t stop kissing each other, although Merlin wasn’t as fond of his wrinkles anymore.

 

THE END


End file.
